A mother from Missouri is suing a local daycare run by a city council member for her son’s death, claiming that an adult staff suffocated the child with their legs or feet “in an effort to force him to sleep.”
Tara Williams filed a wrongful death complaint against Poppy’s Playhouse on behalf of her son Conrad Ashcraft. The lawsuit also alleges that the daycare knew of and “approved of the technique” that the employee used, which is said to have caused Conrad’s death. The complaint does not identify the employee who is alleged to have utilized the allegedly lethal procedure.
The event occurred on Friday, May 16, at the establishment on the 100 block of Mitchell Street in Park Hills, some 65 miles south of St. Louis, according to a copy of the complaint, which was filed in St. Francois County on Monday.
Williams claims that during the day, her son had “a fatal injury” that was “the direct and proximate result of negligence” on the defendant’s part.
According to the petition, the daycare was “negligent to such a degree” that none of the staff members on duty that day were aware that Conrad was suffocating or that he had passed away.
“[O]n information and belief, [Conrad] was killed and remained laying on the floor of Defendant’s facility for hours without any effort to determine his wellbeing,” the filing states.
Additional information was revealed by Conrad’s family in an interview with KSDK, the St. Louis NBC affiliate.
Conrad’s aunt, Lacey Hardie, told the station that her nephew had autism and was nonverbal. She described it as a “nightmare” to consider that the youngster was in pain but couldn’t express his need for assistance.
Speaking about how long Conrad’s welfare was allegedly neglected, Hardie claimed that although the daycare’s nap time was 12:30 p.m., when his mother arrived at 4:15 p.m., “and found him deceased,” he was still on the floor where the daycare worker had allegedly made him sleep.
Park Hills Ward 2 Councilwoman Spring Gray, who resigned on Tuesday, is the owner of the facility, according to KSDK. As of Thursday afternoon, no criminal charges had been brought in relation to Conrad’s passing, and the daycare has not yet made any public statements regarding the event.
